Starting with the “3d bumptop desktop prototype” the new hype was 3D desktops for linux. From the most popular I mention XGL, Looking Glass for Ubuntu and of course Beryl-Compiz (based on XGL).

But the main features are the same:

• Scale effect - Using the scale effect you can see all your opened windows and switch between them. Not only that but this is live preview so the movies will keep rolling, sites updating, etc. This is really helpful for operations like drag&drop and others that require you working with multiple windows.
• The switcher - New way to visualize the windows when you ALT-TAB. It uses live preview of course, and it can be set to dim other windows besides the one active, it rotates the cube when you select a window in another dektop, etc.
• Desktop Cube - I think this was the biggest hit. That cool 3D Cube that uses live preview (also) and that lets you manipulate your default four desktops in any way you want. Add to this the window effects and you’ll get some pretty nice visual effects.
• Window Effects - There are dozens animations and effects for your windows. You can set your windows to fade in and out, to destroy themselves when you close them, to ‘wave’ when you move it, etc. Besides there are many attributes you can alter for each window, such as: Transparency, Brightness, Saturation, etc.

And these are only basic features enhanced and modified by each desktop, case by case. As you have seen the novelty is mostly visual, and the way I see it there’s little or no addition to usability.

Yesterday, this YouTube vid got dugg by over 5000 users, though there was nothing new about it. I have seen it for the first time a long time ago, and it is on YouTube for 7 months now. After seeing it for the first time, I started wondering how practical could such a desktop environment be. Except for the people that usualy have their desktop full of icons, there’s no practical need for it.

This video found on NetBoy’s page caught my attention: here’s something that’s not spreaded and popular as it should be - XGL. Now that’s something I can use and find is useful: dividing your applications on a number of desktops and sorting them by type or by usage or by anything you may want. The best thing about it is that it’s free.

For all I care, I would love the first 30 minutes of play; I wouldn’t use all the features or at least most of them on a day-to-day basis, but it would definitely ease my works more than BumpTop. Real life doesn’t always apply to desktops.